Asia markets set for positive open after U.S. stocks jump on inflation data

Asia-Pacific markets were mostly set to rise after Wall Street jumped overnight, following U.S. inflation data that largely met expectations.

February U.S. consumer price index climbed 0.4% on the month and 3.2% year over year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Tuesday.

Economists polled by Dow Jones had forecast a 0.4% increase month on month and 3.1% year over year.

Core inflation, which strips out food and energy from the headline reading, climbed 0.4% in February, compared to a forecast gain of 0.3%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 started the day up 0.18%, extending gains from Tuesday.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 is also set to rebound after two straight days of losses, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,010 and its counterpart in Osaka at 38,870 against the index’s last close of 38,797.51.

In contrast, futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 17,067, pointing to a weaker open after the HSI recorded a gain of over 3% and closed at 17,093.5.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes rose after the inflation readings, with the S&P500 gaining 1.12% and hitting a new record high of 5,175.27.

The Nasdaq Composite also saw a 1.54% gain as investors plunged back into tech names, sending shares of Nvidia and Oracle up 7% and 11% respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.61%.

— CNBC’s Yun Li and Brian Evans contributed to this report